


My Angel, Please Stay

by UselessThorn



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Angst, Anorexia, Doctor Will, Doctor Will Solace, Eating Disorders, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gay, Hurt/Comfort, LGBTQ Character, M/M, Sad Nico di Angelo, Self-Harm, Slow Burn, probably smut, smut?, very slow
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-04
Updated: 2019-06-15
Packaged: 2020-04-07 15:35:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19087951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UselessThorn/pseuds/UselessThorn
Summary: Nico is falling, pushing himself down farther and farther. He's completely and totally lost, sure to never break the surface. He's given up.Will refuses to let that happen, even if it kills him.Nico will live. He'll make sure of that.





	1. Catalyst

**Author's Note:**

> Hey :)  
> This is my first fic so any comments would be 100% appreciated  
> Enjoy!

The air was thick and damp. His lungs were full of fog, each breath was labored. His vision was spotted and dim. Moisture clung to his body and in turn made his clothes stick. He ran his dry tongue over chapped lips. In a brief moment of clear thought he wondered how he could be dehydrated and feel like he was drowning at the same time. The abstract array of colors around him jerked so quickly that he felt nauseous.

    There was a muffled pain at the back of his head. He was vaguely aware of a sound. He focused on the sound as his key to staying conscious. It was a voice. Someone's voice, though it sounded strange. Distorted.

   The colors and lights were hurting his eyes. He closed them.

    _Black._

-

   Nico felt as if he were submerged in water. He was lethargic and heavy, though he knew he was awake. He couldn't force his eyes open yet, so he settled on listening. He had the sense that he should be afraid but the fear never came.

  He shifted his focus to the sounds around him. For the first couple of minutes there didn't seem to be any sound. He tried to recount anecdotes of people who had fallen into comas and what they said it was like. A stream of noise came, though. Wood. Wood hitting against itself. People. People laughing, talking, yelling.

There was a creak. Footsteps grew louder until they stopped next to him. He opened his eyes and immediately closed them. The room was bright, too bright. He groaned and lifted himself on sore arms. "Nico?"

   Nico turned to face whoever spoke. He wished he didn't. "Will..."

   Will scanned Nico's frame.  "You haven't been here long. A couple of hours at most." The flat tone he used stung. He stood straight, a clipboard in hand. His eyes were slightly narrowed. His jaw was clenched slightly, if Nico hadn't been looking he probably wouldn't have noticed.

   "Can I go then?" 

   Will turned his head away. "Of course not. It's not that hard to guess why you passed out doing something as easy as sparring with a sword. A light one, at that."

  Nico drew himself farther from Will. He knew where this was going. "I can take care of myself."

  Will faced him again. His eyebrows lowered. "No, Nico, you can't. You're dying. We knew you were hurting," He closed his eyes before continuing, "But we didn't think you would be so stupid." Nico flinched. 

  "You can't keep me here."

  "To Hades I can't!" Will moved toward Nico, startling him. Nico inhaled sharply as his eyes darted around the room in search of a way out should he need it. He tensed as he prepared himself to run for the door.

  "Please, Will." Nico drew into himself, crossing his legs and staring straight ahead at the door with a clenched jaw.

  "Nico..." Will's voice was softer, soothing. He sat on the bed and inched closer to Nico with gentle, slow movements. "Let me help you. You're dying right in front of me and I can't stand it. I can't... I can't just watch you do this to yourself. Everyone's so worried. Percy... he thought he'd hurt you when sparring. He carried you to me. He said you were light, way too light." He ran his hands through his hair.

   Nico forced himself to keep from looking at Will. "Let me go."

  "I'm going to help you."

  Nico said nothing. He didn't know what he could say that would help his situation. He felt the bed become lighter as Will got up. He looked over to see him carrying a tray of chicken and carrots. Nico shivered. The smell of the chicken was overpowering. 

  "No."

  "Don't make this difficult." Will set the tray next to him on the bed. 

  Nico reached his hand out tentatively and picked up the tray and set it in his lap. Will sighed and sat in the chair next to the bed. Nico grimaced. "Don't you have other things to do than watch me eat?" 

  "Not at the moment." 

  "It's a little creepy."

  "Just eat the food." 

    Nico huffed. He used his fingers the pick apart the grilled chicken, shredding it into small pieces. The grease made his fingers slick, though he kept going. His sense of control grew. He needed any that he could get whilst being constantly monitored. He moved to his carrots and snapped them as small as he could with a satisfying crunch. He smiled to himself. The urge to eat the food was gone.

  Will remained silent. Nico felt obligated to say something about his ritual. He didn't think it was uncommon, but he knew most people would have never seen it.

  "Um, it's just something I do." 

   "Are you actually going to eat?" 

   Nico looked down at the bed. A tight pain grew in his stomach. He crossed his arms over his chest and closed off even more pulling into a smaller space.

   There was a clank of the plate being picked up and a thud as it hit the trash. Nico winced.

   "Can I at least get my stuff if I'm going to stay here?" 

   Will was silent for a couple of seconds, "Um, sure."

   "Thanks." Nico got up, briefly subdued by his vision going dark. The cabin wasn't too far away. He only had to make it there before anyone realized he was out of the infirmary. 

   There weren't many campers out. The smell of burnt offerings to the Gods was faint. Dinner had been some time ago. His hand lingered on the doorknob. He didn't recognize any of the people around him. He stepped forward.

 "Nico!" Dammit.

   Percy jogged to him, thankfully alone. "Are you okay, man?"

   Nico grit his teeth and nodded. 

   "Listen, I don't know what happened," Percy paused, "I'm sorry if I hurt you...or pushed you too hard." 

   "Are you done?" Nico clenched his jaw.

   "I... yeah." Percy turned to leave, "You know we care about you, right?" Nico said nothing. He didn't wait for Percy to react, either. He sped toward the cabin.

   His scanned the room as he tapped his fingers against his leg. He went for the small jewelry box on his nightstand first, tucking it safely in his jeans before grabbing some clothes. He made sure he brought a few bandages just in case and an extra hoodie. Most of the campers chose to show off their orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt, especially given the heat. It was needless to say that Nico was an outlier in this sense.

   Nico shut the door behind him and steadied himself. He was going to have to find a way out of this- though he didn't know how. "Bianca, don't let me fail..." 


	2. Let Me Help You

The infirmary was bleak, dismal. A freezing blast of air hit Nico as soon as he walked in, his clothes tucked beneath his arm. His body ached. His arms were heavy and sore- like every day as of late. 

Will was there reaching for his clothes. "I got it," Nico snapped.

Will stepped back quickly, "Alright," He nodded toward the cot pressed against the wall, "Put your stuff over there."

Nico assessed where he would be staying. He should have brought a blanket. The sheet he was supposed to sleep with could barely qualify for a towel. He pressed his lips together. The room was bright, too bright. Everywhere was white and blue, it was so... formal. Especially for a Summer camp.

It made sense that the infirmary would have to be held to high standards, though. Lethal injuries were a daily occurrence.

"You okay?" Will asked.

Nico nodded and set his clothes next to the bed. He wouldn't be there long, he felt no need to put much thought into his space. If he was lucky, he would only stay the night and he'd be on his own again in the morning.

On his own. He didn't think solitude would ever sound enticing- until it was taken away from him. Unwillingly.

It might have been different if he wanted the help, or if Will had just offered to be his friend, but this felt like a violation of his trust and privacy, two things Nico took very seriously.

Will stood in front of him. His orange T-shirt had been replaced with light gray scrubs. His change in wardrobe was noted, though not significant.

It did mean that he was taking his job more seriously, though, which was a bit of a problem. Getting out might not prove to be easy. 

"We can do this today or tomorrow, but it has to get done." 

"What?"

"I have to take your weight."

Nico wasn't going to pretend he didn't have multiple scales in his cabin, or that he thought he was at a healthy weight. Will didn't need to know that, though. Nobody did. Nobody could. Will would try to stop him.

That was the last thing Nico needed.

He knew he needed to gain weight, he knew he needed to stop what he was doing, but he couldn't. The thought of it terrified him. Being healthy meant he failed. It meant he was weak, that he had lost control.

"No." Nico pulled his jacket closed as he took a step back. He turned his head to the side...

"I need to know the extent of your... condition."

Nico was infuriated. This wasn't Will. Not warm and friendly Will, not loving and unconditionally caring Will. This was someone else. He took in a few deep breaths. He felt a rush building in his chest. He was scared he would hurt Will, though it was a back thought. His anger was the only thing he cared about at the moment.

He wanted Will back. He wanted his friendship, not this dispassionate stranger. Not this doctor- cold and apathetic. He wanted to be playing volleyball with him in the warm sand, he wanted to sit next to him during the campfire, he wanted him back. His heart ached. It wasn't fair that he should be forced to submit to what someone else wanted, to give someone else complete control as they demanded. It wasn't fair that it was Will.

His emotions burned through him, rushing to the surface before he could stop them. 

"Why? No one's forcing you to take care of me. Do you have some sort of savior complex? Or do you just want to control me and make my life hell?" His words dripped with malice. He didn't regret them this time.

Nico refused to look at Will to gauge his reaction. He didn't care. Whatever got him out of this was worth it, even if it meant hurting Will. 

"Nico..." He spoke softly, there was no hint of anger in his voice. "I'm not going to lie, I don't know much about eating disorders-"

"I don't have an eating disorder," Nico insisted, cutting Will off as his hands clenched against his jacket. 

Will was silent. Finally, he spoke, "Why won't you accept that you need help?"

"So you think you can help me? Fix me? That's pretty damn arrogant of you." Nico turned to face him with a hardened expression. "Are you some sort of therapist? Do you know anything about what you're trying to do?" 

"I don't see you admitting yourself anytime soon, so this will have to do." Will countered.

Nico gritted his teeth for a couple of seconds before backing down. "You can try. Good luck, Solace." He sat on the cot and crossed his legs.

"I'll give you the option again. Are you going to let me take your weight now or am I going to force you tomorrow?" 

Nico ran over the options in his head. "Let's get it over with." He stood. His vision was surprisingly clear this time. 

Will led him to a cabinet where he brought out a scale. Nico swallowed thickly as the two zeros lit up on the screen. "Can you at least take your jacket off?"

Nico inhaled sharply. He hadn't anticipated that, though it was obvious now that he should have. He decided to try his luck. "It's about three pounds." 

"I still want as accurate of a reading as possible. Please just take it off, I don't want to fight you on everything." 

"I don't... I don't like being seen." Nico admitted. 

"Like, your body?" Will looked over him with his eyes, concern laced in his expression. 

Nico nodded. His eyes were fixed on the floor. More specifically, the scale.

"That's okay, we can work on that. Three pounds, you said?" Some of the iciness had melted from his voice. He almost sounded like himself.

Nico met his eyes, his mouth turned only slightly upward. "Yeah." He stepped on the scale and exhaled. He looked down.

He was shocked- he hadn't weighed himself in a while. He couldn't hide his satisfaction at the low number. 

"Holy shit, Nico." Will reached out to touch his arm, but he pulled away and stepped off.

"That's..." He bit his lip, his eyebrows drawn, "That's really low." Nico turned away so he couldn't see how thrilled he was about the number.

The thing was, once he saw progress, he couldn't stop. It felt like the first time he stepped on a scale and watched the numbers get lower. It was the best feeling he'd had in a while.

"Nico," Will said, still frozen.

"It's not as bad as you think. I've always been low."

"You have to let me help you."

"I'd like to see you try."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading :)  
> Please comment on what you think/ any critiques you may have  
> Thanks <3


	3. Please Read

Hey guys.  
I haven't uploaded in a bit, and I know I just started this story, but I think I'm gonna end it. I don't feel very confident in the plot or my own writing to be honest. I don't like the way I've written it.  
Plus this story focuses around anorexia and right now I'm trying to recover (I wasn't when I started this- it was a way to vent/ project).  
BUT  
I will give anyone who wants it this story. DM me and I'll give you the basic plot and stuff, or just go ahead and write using what I've already set out. If you want to credit me, that'd be nice, but it's not necessary as most of the story will be yours. If you want, I can help edit (I like to think I'm good with grammar) or help you write it. If you do write it, please tell me so I can read it because I think that would be hella cool.  
Honestly I don't think anyone wants this story so I don't expect to get any DM's, but I thought I'd throw it out there.  
Maybe I'll continue in the future when I can actually write, but for now, my take on this story is over.  
I'm sorry for cutting it so short, love you all  
<3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Love y'all  
> DM me <3

**Author's Note:**

> I should upload at least every other day uwu


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